1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to magazine loading aids for use with pistols which are loaded with a magazine through a magazine receiving opening in the butt of the pistol frame.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The great majority of automatic and semi-automatic pistols which are currently manufactured fire rounds of ammunition from a magazine which carries a plurality of ammunition rounds. The magazine is a metal case, usually elongated and enclosed on all sides with an opening at the top into which rounds of ammunition are inserted and from which the ammunition rounds are fed into the chamber of the pistol. A spring at the bottom of the magazine forces the rounds of ammunition upward toward the opening.
Most magazines for automatic pistols slide into a cavity in the pistol frame through a magazine receiving opening in the butt of the handle of the pistol frame. Widely used standard pistols of this type include the 1911 and 1911 A-1 Colt Browning U.S. Government Model .45 caliber semi-automatic recoil operated pistols. These pistols have been manufactured and in use since the early part of this century. The Colt Browning 1911 A-1 .45 caliber automatic pistol is manufactured by numerous arms manufacturers throughout the world. Colt Firearms manufactures the Gold Cup, Series 70 Mark IV, and Commander Series Colt .45 caliber automatic pistols. Other manufacturers include Llama, EMC (Michigan Armament), Essex, Crown City, Datenics and Ithica. Another form of the Colt Browning 1911 A-1 .45 caliber automatic pistol is sold as the Argentine Ballester Milina M 1927 .45 automatic pistol.
Although the Colt Browning 1911 A-1 .45 caliber automatic pistol is manufactured and sold by a large number of different firearms manufacturers, the details of construction of the pistol and the dimensions thereof are highly standardized.
The magazine for the Colt Browning 1911 A-1 .45 caliber automatic pistol carries seven rounds of ammunition and is squared in the back and rounded in the front. A magazine release mechanism mounted in the frame of the pistol includes a catch that is engageable with a slot defined in the magazine. The magazine is pushed into the cavity in the pistol frame upwardly through a magazine receiving opening in the butt of the handle of the pistol frame.
A channel is defined behind the magazine cavity in the pistol frame to receive a mechanism for driving the pistol hammer forward when the trigger of the pistol is pulled. This mechanism includes a main coil spring which is compressed when the pistol is cocked and which is released when the trigger is pulled. A hard rubber or plastic housing holds the main spring in position and is itself held in position in the channel in the pistol frame by ribs which fit into corresponding grooves in the pistol frame.
The housing for the main spring assembly is termed the main spring housing. The main spring housing is inserted into position by aligning the ribs thereon with the corresponding grooves in the pistol frame and sliding the main spring housing into the channel behind the magazine cavity from the butt of the pistol.
Various arrangement have been devised to aid in loading a magazine into the magazine receiving opening in the butt of the handle of the pistol frame. Most of these aids function as a chute, guide or funnel located at the bottom of the pistol frame. Such guides are equipped with inwardly facing sloping walls which serve to guide a magazine into the magazine receiving opening in the pistol handle. In competitive target shooting speed in loading a magazine is an extremely important factor. The use of a magazine loading guide improves the speed of magazine loading by minimizing the momentary delays that sometimes occur in attempting to align the magazine with the magazine receiving opening in the pistol handle.
One conventional, commercially available magazine loading guide is a U-shaped plastic structure formed with a pair of ears orthogonal to the legs of the guide. Three sloping surfaces are defined on the interior of the legs and back of the U-shaped guide for the purpose of deflecting and guiding a magazine into the magazine receiving opening in the pistol frame. This conventional guide is attached to the pistol frame by apertures in the ears which fit over the lowermost of two pairs of bushings protruding from the pistol frame. These bushings receive screws for attaching wooden or plastic stocks or grips to the sides of the pistol frame. The ears of the conventional, commercially available plastic magazine loading guide fit over the lowermost of the stock screw bushings protruding laterally outwardly from the upright walls of the pistol frame butt. The ears of the magazine loading guide are entrapped by and sandwiched between the pistol frame on the inside and the stocks or grips on the outside of the pistol.
The conventional magazine loading guide of the type described has several distinct disadvantages. Since it is of a U-shaped configuration it is useful in positioning a magazine that is pushed into the magazine receiving opening in the pistol frame butt only from the sides and from the back. There is no sloping surface at the front of the guide to aid in deflecting the magazine into the magazine receiving opening when the magazine arrives at the forward edge of the opening as it is inserted.
Another disadvantage of the commercially available plastic guide is that when it is secured to the pistol butt it prevents removal of the main spring housing unless the stocks on the sides of the pistol frame handle are first removed. It is desirable to remove the main spring housing from the pistol frame fairly frequently in order to clean the components of the main spring assembly and to correct any malfunction in the main spring assembly. However, with the prior commercially available plastic guide, removal of the main spring housing can only be accomplished after removal of the stocks. All four screws must be disengaged from the stock bushings in order to expose the ears of the magazine guide. One of the ears must then be flexed outwardly to clear the structure of the bushing to which it is attached. Very frequently one of the ears of the magazine guide will break off when the plastic structure of the guide is subjected to such flexure. A guide of this conventional design cannot be constructed more sturdily since flexure of the ears is necessary in order to allow the guide to be removed.
A further disadvantage of the conventinal, commercially available magazine loading guide is that because the stocks must be removed for access to the main spring housing, there is a significant likelihood of stripping the threads of the stock bushings or the screws holding the stocks in the bushings. Stripped threads usually result from overtightening of the stock screws during replacement of the stocks. When the stock bushing threads are stripped the old bushing must be drilled out and a new bushing must be tapped and welded in place. Moreover, the stocks themselves are subjected to a much more frequently likelihood of damage by a screwdriver during the frequent engagement and disengagement of the stock screws.
Due to the necessity for removing the stocks for servicing of the main spring assembly in a pistol equipped with a conventional commercially available magazine guide, a user is likely to put off servicing and cleaning of the main spring assembly. This can lead to a degradation of the main spring assembly components and increases the likelihood of malfunction in the main spring assembly.
A further problem with the commercially available plastic magazine guide is that it cannot be adjusted to accommodate different pistols. Even though the nominal dimensions of Colt Browning 1911 A-1 .45 caliber automatic pistols are highly standardized, there are dimensional variations within tolerances among individual pistols, particularly in the external dimensions of the outer structure of the pistol frame. There is no means for adjusting the commercially available plastic magazine guide for such variations among pistols. Consequently, the commercial guide tends to wobble on the butt of a pistol frame. This represents an annoyance, but more significantly detracts from the speed with which a magazine can be loaded into the magazine receiving opening in the pistol frame.
Other magazine loading aids have also been devised. One such conventional aid involves building up a bead at the bottom edge of the butt of the pistol frame to form a funnel-shaped guide or chute. However, this requires expert welding and is quite costly. Furthermore, it represents a permanent alteration to the pistol which a subsequent owner may not desire.